So Late in the Day and other reads • Episode #151

Kate and Laura are back and diving in to two book club reads, one recent release and one modern classic. Transcription by Ben Lerner was published earlier this year to much critical fanfare. It's a playful, intellectually ambitious exploration of writing, memory, technology and the slippery relationship between fiction and reality. When the narrator's phone fails to record his final interview with an eminent cultural figure, he reconstructs the conversation from memory. But does the truth of an encounter depend on an accurate transcript? And what happens when a novel begins to fold back on itself? We discuss Lerner's auto-fictional project, his fascination with the act of writing, the glass flowers at Harvard's Natural History Museum, and whether Lerner's novels are genuinely profound or sometimes guilty of taking themselves a little too seriously. Laura’s book club, meanwhile headed back to the mid-20th century with Dorothy Baker’s classic Cassandra at the Wedding, a brilliantly funny, unsettling and surprisingly contemporary novella about an intensely self-absorbed young woman determined to prevent her identical twin sister from getting married. With its claustrophobic family setting, unreliable narrator, dark comedy and complicated portrait of sisterly love, it's a novel that raises questions about identity, dependence, artistic ambition and the difficulty of allowing the people we love to become themselves – but what did Laura's book club make of it? As ever in addition to the book club catch up we’re also swapping notes on recent reads and upcoming plans, including diving in to the Booker prize shortlist – the most enticing, we both agree, in years. Notes and books mentioned The Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models at Harvard  A Portrait of the Artist as an Artist Portraying the Artist by Nathan Anthony West Indiana by George Sand Briefly, A Delicious Life by Nell Stevens The Romantics by Pankaj Mishra A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel The Great Dictator by Matthew Sweet When the Going was Good by Graydon Carter Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi Join The Book Club Review on Patreon Become a subscriber for extra episodes, access to our community chat groups, and the chance to join our monthly podcast book club. Our next reads are A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch (October '26) and Helm by Sarah Hall (November '26). Find out more at patreon.com/thebookclubreview The Book Club Review is a podcast about books, book clubs and the books that get people talking. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It’s the end of summer, so Kate and Laura are looking back over their holiday reading, the books they loved, the ones that disappointed them, and the unexpected discoveries that made their reading lists longer rather than shorter. We talk about Alex E. Harrow’s huge fantasy novel The Everlasting, and why it turned out to be a surprisingly divisive read. Kate reports back on her pick from the Booker longlist, The Palm House by Gwendolyn Riley. She's also recently completed The Power Broker, Robert Caro's iconic book on New York master-builder Robert Moses, but was it worth the read? She's also discussing The Silver Book, Olivia Laing's most recent work of fiction. In Pankaj Mishra’s The Romantics, Laura found an interesting book club choice, while Kate's flagging up Vladimir by Julia May Jonas, and while on the campus novel theme she also read Joanna Miller’s The Eights, set in 1920s Oxford. Laura wraps things up with the wonderfully atmospheric The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo. But there’s more as pod-regular Phil Chaffee joins us with two of his favourite summer reads, Sue Prideaux’s Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin and Bret Easton Ellis’s The Shards. As summer comes to an end, we’re also looking ahead to Booker season, with the shortlist just around the corner and plenty more reading on the horizon. Patreon Come and find the pod on Patreon at patreon.com/thebookclubreview Keep up with the pod between shows on Instagram @bookclubreviewpodcast For all other information and our episode archive find The Book Club Review online at thebookclubreview.co.uk Complete booklist The Power Broker by Robert Caro Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir The Everlasting by Alex E. Harrow The Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle Starling House by Alex E. Harrow Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke The Palm House by Gwendolyn Riley Famesick by Lena Dunham My Phantoms by Gwendolyn Riley The Silver Book by Olivia Laing The Garden Against Time by Olivia Laing Crudo by Olivia Laing The Romantics by Pankaj Mishra The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon Fathers & Sons by Ivan Turgenev The Heart of the Nhaga by Lee Young-do (Anton Hur) Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinnerman Land by Maggie O’Farrell The Chair (Netflix) Monsters by Claire Dederer Vladimir by Julia May Jonas The Eights by Joanna Miller The Night Tiger and The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo The Digital Critic: Literary Culture Online (Houman Barekat, Robert Barry and David Winters, eds.) When We Talk About Love by Carl Wilson Timecodes for the time-poor 00:00 — Welcome & summer reading 02:00 — What did we actually read this summer? Holiday reading plans, library books and the perennial problem of taking too many books away with you. 04:00 — The Everlasting by Alex E. Harrow Time loops, quests and a very divided reaction. 15:30 — The End of the Power Broker by Robert Caro Kate tackles another Booker longlist book and asks: why is this on the longlist? 20:00 — The Booker longlist pick A frank discussion of Gwendolyn Riley's The Palm House and the pleasures (and pains) of reading for the Booker. 22:20 — The Silver Book by Olivia Laing A surprise for Kate after her mixed reaction to Laing’s Crudo. 27:30 — An accidental book-club adventure Laura's brilliant idea: abandon the overheated book-club meeting and send everyone into Foyles to choose books. 28:40 — The Romantics by Pankaj Mishra A chance discovery — and a Hilary Mantel endorsement that seals the deal. 35:50 — Vladimir by Julia May Jonas Sex, power, academia and the deliciously murky moral territory of a campus novel. 40:00 — The Eights by Joanna Miller Women in academia, 1920s Oxford and coming-of-age just after World War I 42:40 — The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo Mystery, folklore, tigers and colonial Malaysia, Laura's perfect summer read 50:45 — Phil’s summer reading Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin by Sue Prideaux and The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis 54:20 — Booker season begins The shortlist is coming, and summer reading gives way to requ

Looking for the perfect summer read? Kate is joined by Laura Potter and returning guest Phil Chaffee to compare recent reads before putting this year's biggest summer books to the test. Inspired by reading lists from The New York Times, The Times, Lit Hub and The Booker Prize, they decide which books are beach reads, suitcase books, and which they'd happily leave behind at the airport. Plus, they reveal the books they're packing for their own holidays. Books discussed Recently read The Golden Mean — Annabel Lyon Plato and the Tyrant — James Romm Glorious Exploits — Ferdia Lennon The Game of Kings — Dorothy Dunnett The House of Niccolò series — Dorothy Dunnett We Are Green and Trembling — Gabriela Cabezón Cámara (trans. Robin Myers) Evaluating the picks from the summer reading lists Hot Milk — Deborah Levy The Eighth Life — Nino Haratischwili A Month in the Country — J. L. Carr Whistler — Ann Patchett The Things We Never Say — Elizabeth Strout Land — Maggie O'Farrell Instructions for a Heatwave — Maggie O'Farrell John of John — Douglas Stuart I Want You to Be Happy — Jem Calder The Director — Daniel Kehlmann Villa Coco — Andrew Sean Greer Our holiday recommendations The Feast — Margaret Kennedy Free Food for Millionaires — Min Jin Lee Famesick — Lena Dunham Swimming Home — Deborah Levy Radiant Star — Ann Leckie The Balkan Trilogy — Olivia Manning Wait for Me — Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire The Pursuit of Love — Nancy Mitford Also mentioned Pachinko — Min Jin Lee Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo — Douglas Stuart Less — Andrew Sean Greer Transcription — Ben Lerner Reading Lolita in Tehran — Azar Nafisi

What makes secondhand books so irresistible? Kate and Laura celebrate the joy of used bookshops, their favourite places to shop, literary finds and the thrill of unexpected discoveries. There's also an interview with W. B. Gooderham, author of Dedicated To, a book that explores the touching, funny and sometimes heartbreaking messages that can be found in the handwritten dedications tucked inside secondhand books. Whether you're a devoted secondhand book hunter or simply love hearing readers talk about books, this episode is a celebration of literary serendipity, book collecting, and the enduring pleasure of finding exactly the right book when you least expect it. Book list and links Bookshopaholics: The Paperhound • Episode #139 ‘Owner of Vancouver's eclectic MacLeod’s Books marks 50 years of serving bibliophiles’,John Mackie for the Vancouver Sun The Second Shelf bookshop (now in online form) Aphrodisiacs in your Garden by Charles Connell The Transitive Vampire by Karen Elizabeth Gordon The Complete Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby Things I Learned on the 6.28 by Stig Abell Griffin Bay Bookstore, San Juan island Episode #51: Barnabees Bookshop Skoob books Dedicated to, compiled by W.G. Gooderham The Diary of a Nobody by George and Wheedon Grossmith The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole and The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend Wise Children by Angela Carter Arabella by Georgette Heyer House of Niccolo and Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett Judd Books, Bloomsbury Timecodes 00:00 Welcome and a pod milestone 00:48 Secondhand book-hunting 03:01 Browsing vs. buying 07:58 Secondhand treasures 11:52 Kate's love of books about books 16:23 Dream bookshops 17:18 Our favourite places to buy secondhand 20:42 Patreon Break 21:50 Kate meets W.B. Gooderham 23:43 Skoob books and inscribed editions 27:22 How Wayne's collecting began 28:41 Dedicated To: The forgotten friendships hidden stories and lost loves found in secondhand books 30:50 Releasing Books Back 32:09 To inscribe or not to inscribe 33:07 Diary Of A Nobody by George and Wheedon Grossmith 37:32 Adrian Mole Editions 38:39 Wise Children 39:51 Pnin – a collection that took Wayne years to assemble 41:28 Bookshelves and Umberto Eco's library 44:04 Laura shares some of her favourite used-book haunts 47:54 Why secondhand books matter 49:08 Episode wrap

When the Guardian drops a list of the 100 Greatest Novels in English it's time to drop everything to talk about it. Luckily pod-regular guest, journalist Phil Chaffee and Joseph Dance, host of the Curious Readers podcast, also had views, and were willing to get together on a Sunday evening to share them. You'll hear our hits, our misses, how many we’ve read, whether we should have read more and much musing on whether a list like this is the way to get people excited about reading. We explore the joys of the sub-lists – the contributor lists – all squirrelled away on a sub-section of the Guardian's website, that arguably provide more excitement and inspiration than the fairly canonical top 100. Which is the best Brontë? Which is the best Austen? Do we age into certain books? If you've read all seven volumes of Proust shouldn't that count for more than one entry? All this and much, much more. Enjoy – this was an absolute delight to make and I hope it makes you smile as much as it did me. Have your say: get in touch on Instagram @bookclubreviewpodcast or email [email protected], or head to our website for full shownotes. What would be in your top-10? Check out the Patreon for all kinds of extras, from our monthly book club to extra shows and Kate's reading diaries. Find it at patreon.com/thebookclubreview The Guardian’s List of the 100 Greatest Novels published in English, copied below for ease of reference. *underlined – the ones Kate has read Middlemarch Beloved Ulysses To the Lighthouse In Search of Lost Time Anna Karenina War and Peace Jane Eyre Pride and Prejudice Madame Bovary The Great Gatsby Bleak House Emma Mrs Dalloway Moby-Dick Nineteen Eighty-Four One Hundred Years of Solitude Persuasion The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman Wuthering Heights The Portrait of a Lady Things Fall Apart Midnight’s Children The Remains of the Day Lolita Don Quixote The Trial The Brothers Karamazov Pale Fire Frankenstein The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie The God of Small Things David Copperfield Wolf Hall Great Expectations The Handmaid’s Tale Invisible Man The Age of Innocence Their Eyes Were Watching God Song of Solomon Heart of Darkness The Magic Mountain Housekeeping Giovanni’s Room The Golden Notebook The Leopard Vanity Fair The Metamorphosis A Fine Balance Wide Sargasso Sea My Brilliant Friend The Golden Bowl The Transit of Venus Orlando The Waves Mansfield Park The Sound and the Fury Disgrace Never Let Me Go Howards End The Rings of Saturn Half of a Yellow Sun White Teeth The Good Soldier The Color Purple The Master and Margarita The Man Without Qualities Blood Meridian Crime and Punishment Jude the Obscure Kindred Our Mutual Friend Austerlitz Nervous Conditions The Bluest Eye Dracula The Rainbow A House for Mr Biswas Go Tell It on the Mountain Rebecca Buddenbrooks The End of the Affair A Farewell to Arms The Talented Mr Ripley The Vegetarian The Turn of the Screw The Line of Beauty Ragtime The Left Hand of Darkness Jacob’s Room Life and Fate Sentimental Education Invisible Cities The Known World The Return of the Native Pedro Páramo Catch-22 The Road The Go-Between My Ántonia Particular books we touch on in the show Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Ulysses by James Joyce In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner Villette by Charlotte Brontë Orlando, The Waves and To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez Middlemarch by George Eliot Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa Nervous Conditions, The Book of Not and This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa The English Unders